Frustrated with your child’s lack of motivation?

While there are many reasons why kids don’t practice, laziness usually IS NOT one of them, although that’s what we typically assume.

What is happening is your child likely has a lack of intrinsic motivation, due to one of three reasons:

1) A low self-efficacy… not believing they are good enough.

2) Not believing that practice actually leads to higher performance.

3) No association between the eventual improvements with a reward that they value.

So what can you do about this? First of all, don’t loose your temper. That will only make reason #1 worse. Second, look for bright spots. In what activities do they excel and work to improve without external ‘encouragement’. Use this activity as a way to build their self-confidence, which will transfer to other activities.  Read more →

Why a walk in the woods is so much more than just getting some fresh air

Once you start to focus on and appreciate the tree as something other than a tree, you have, in fact, cleared your mind.[/quote] Whether as is a result of the recent heat wave that has been gracing the Midwest or the pending snow storm this weekend, I’ve been able to take some great walks recently.  More than usual, but not as many as I need. While the exercise is nice, let’s be honest, the calories burned from a short stroll aren’t going to compensate for much. No. The real benefit is a little higher than the waistline, and much more beneficial to your overall wellbeing. Read more →